SAN DIEGO — Doug Williams spent three hours in a dentist’s office getting a root canal Saturday, then went out Sunday and bit off a piece of football history in Super Bowl XXII.

Williams, the first black to start at quarterback in the NFL’s championship game, threw for four touchdowns as the Washington Redskins destroyed the Denver Broncos 42-10.

It wasn’t the final chapter for the 32-year-old veteran, but it was the sweetest in an up-and-down, seven-year NFL career sandwiched around two seasons in the USFL.

“I think this is the most satisfied I’ve been as a professional football player,” Williams said. “It has been a long road, but it all came together today.

“The thing about it, if you never get the opportunity to play another down of football, you can always say there are an awful lot of people that know you wen to the Super Bowl. And I’ve been there.”

That’s something of an understatement. Williams not only was there Sunday , he performed brilliantly, breaking Joe Montana’s Super Bowl record with 340 yards passing and directing an offense that totally dominated the Broncos after the first quarter.

Williams wasn’t bothered by his tooth problem Sunday, but he said awakened about 4:30 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep, so he used the long hours before the 4:20 p.m. MST kickoff to go over the game plan and think about how things would go, play by play.

That preparation started to play off just 43 seconds into the seconds into the second quarter, when wide receiver Ricky Sanders adjusted to the coverage of Broncos cornerback Mark Haynes, turned what was supposed to be a short route into a fly pattern and Williams hit him for an 80-yard touchdown pass that closed the gap to 10-7 and began a hit parade that didn’t stop until the Broncos were all but out of it, trailing 35-10 at the half.

Before that happened, though, Williams had to survive a lethargic first quarter in which his receivers dropped passes and the Redskins sputtered generally. More disturbingly, Williams crumpled to the field after stumbling taking his pass drop late in the quarter and +had to leave the game for two offensive plays.

He said he had no though of leaving the game, however, once he tested the knee of the sideline and realized “I could walk and set up. I was going the play no matter what the pain was.

“I’ve been hurt before and I’ve played hurt. If you’re going to play this game, you’ve got to play with a little pain.”

On the next Washington series, Williams returned and hit Sanders for the first touchdown.

“It was an uplift because we were back in the ballgame,” Williams said of the first touchdown pass. “Ricky ran a great route, I threw the ball in the air and he ran under it. that was easy.

“The hardest part of the day was watching that clock run after we were leading 35-10 because John (Elway) is the type of guy he can come back at any time.”

This article was originally published on Feb. 1, 1988, under the headline of “Williams takes bite of history.”

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